Travel to Cuba from Sacramento

Tower of Hotel Nacional de Cuba

One cannot apply Harry Chapin song lyric logic to our experiences of travel to Cuba from Sacramento. It was NOT the going there. But then again, we were not traveling to Cuba on the maiden flight of CTS, which is a charter flight from Los Angeles directly to Cuba. We booked our travel to Cuba in early 2015 through a travel agency in Los Angeles, which routed us through Miami on a Havana Air charter flight. If the travel agency had booked us any other day than a Saturday, we would not have had to leave our Miami hotel at 3:30 in the morning to wade through the enormous passenger lines at the airport to catch a 7 AM one-hour flight. We could have instead slept in and caught a noon flight.

This would not have been so completely unbearable if United Airlines had not changed our flight from Sacramento to depart at 5:30 AM the day before. Crawling out of bed at 3:30 AM two nights in a row was not my idea.

Denver Realtor Joan Cox with Sacramento Realtor Elizabeth Weintraub at Denver Airport

Our connecting flight from Denver gave us a 3-hour layover, and my friend, an agent from Active Rain, Joan Cox in Denver, met us at the airport for a leisurely brunch. I tried to be bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and alert, but I probably failed miserably. Afterward, we sat at the gate for another 3 hours as we watched United give away our plane to other passengers and search frantically to locate another.

First Class on United is not really a first-class experience. It’s a few rows separated by a curtain with slightly larger seats. No wonder our roundtrip tickets were so cheap. I cannot begin to fathom what travel in coach was like.

View from Mandarin Oriental in Miami at midnight

We landed late in Miami. Our initial plan was to enjoy a quiet dinner at the Mandarin Oriental, maybe a cocktail or two and retire early. As it was, we were lucky our heads hit the pillow after midnight and then we were back up at 3:30 AM to return to the airport for our charter flight to travel to Cuba. You know what they say about best laid plans . . .

Taxi from Jose Marti International Airport to Hotel Nacional de Cuba

For about $30, we caught a taxi from the airport and was whisked away down the streets of Havana. We zipped past all of the passengers transporting televisions, computers, refrigerators and other large objects wrapped in plastic. And yes, it is true about the 1950s cars. Ubiquitous. Our cab driver could recite the make and model of every vehicle on the road.

Adam Weintraub strolls the lobby at Hotel Nacional de Cuba

As the bellmen in the lobby at Hotel Nacional carted our luggage up the steps, I was counting out uno, dos, tres on my fingers to reach the number 6, seis, so I could let them know we had reservations for the Executive floor, level six. Little did I realize they speak perfect English. Unfortunately, we could not check in at 8 AM and were told to return at 4 PM. We wandered into the courtyard. Below is a short 16-second video:

We listened to music, sat on the hill and tried to shoot photos of 1950s cars driving along the Malecon, but the traffic was moving much too quickly to capture the scene.

Relaxing patio by the sea at Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Later that evening, we returned to the spot you see above to enjoy a daiquiri on the patio after dinner and laugh about how our travel agent messed up our room reservations. After an hour nap on the lobby sofa, at the designated hour of 4 PM, we checked in on the Executive Level and the hotel clerk proudly handed me my key and room portfolio. Then she turned to my husband and handed him a different room key for an adjacent room. We looked at each other in amazement. Why did we have two rooms? My husband blurted, “But we’re married!” The clerk defended her position. It says right here, she explained, you like to stay up late and she does not. Two rooms.

Yes, like a suite, NOT separate. Uh oh, that meant every hotel reservation for us was most likely for two separate hotel rooms. We should get a refund from the travel agency. Two rooms were much less than one small suite.

Tourists in the courtyard at Hotel Nacional de Cuba

The Hotel Nacional de Cuba was built by Americans in 1930, based on The Breakers in Miami. It is a gorgeous hotel, filled with wonderful architectural detailing, art deco blended with other styles such as Moorish, and neoclassical, neocolonial and even California mission. If you travel to Cuba, you should try to stay at this hotel at least for one night.

Artists at work in the courtyard of Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Many artists line the courtyard during the day to paint. The hotel sits on a hill and once held antiaircraft in the 1960s. After the Revolution, much tourist travel to Cuba ceased and did not resume until the mid 1970s. It has since been declared a National Monument, and many dignitaries and celebrities have stayed at Hotel Nacional.

Tarzan Pool at Hotel Nacional de Cuba

As we stood in line to change our currency from American dollars into CUCs, the exchange rate is .87 CUCs to a dollar, I watched a video over and over on the hotel screen. I want my photo shot next to the Tarzan statue, I announced. And we began a search of the hotel for the statue of Tarzan. There is a Tarzan pool, as evidenced above, but there is no statue of Tarzan.

Our guide, Sergio, asked why we thought there was a statue of Tarzan at the pool. Because I saw it on the video. I had to go back to the lobby and shoot the screen capture to prove it to him. Turns out, it was just a photo of Johnny Weissmuller imposed next to the pool. I was so sleepy during our currency exchange that I did not realize this. See below. Still, I could see it, can’t you?

Screen capture of lobby video Piscina de Tarzan at Hotel Nacional de Cuba